CHOOSE ANOTHER CAR HIRE COMPANY - AVOID BUDGET AS VEHICLES ARE NOT SAFE & YOU ARE DISHONESTLY CHARGED FOR REFUELING!

CHARGED FOR REFUELING WHEN RETURNED FULL & CHARGED FOR DELIVERY OF AN EXCHANGE VEHICLE FOR FAULTY UNSAFE VEHICLE I rented a vehicle for 8 days requiring to do huge mileage to attend appointments & being time strapped. I discovered that all FOUR tyres had slow punctures, after I 'eyeballed' a flat tyre (1 Bar pressure!) having been driving 120 kph one day into my rental period. The vehicle also obviously had an electrical system error as no warning light was showing up on the dash, but after pumping up all 4 tyres to the stipulated pressure, the warning lights flashed persistently (evidently only happy when the tyres are flat!!). There are very few locations for this car rental company for support, & the telephone numbers are NEVER answered wasting valuable time. On day 5 of my 8 day rental, at 8am just prior to another urgent semi-rural trip, after yet again requiring to pump the tyres, I was able to get through to the Stellenbosch Budget/Avis office, who in turn put me through to the CPT Airport location office. The Airport office said that they meet me at my 'rural' location (as I was unable to drive the 1.5 hrs to the airport (time constraints!) & they would bring a replacement vehicle BY TRUCK & take the faulty vehicle back AT NO CHARGE TO ME because their vehicle was declared unsafe. Instead of delivering by truck as they stated they would, a staff member drove the replacement vehicle obviously arriving with NOT a full fuel tank, & drove the faulty vehicle back to CPT airport depot. At the end of my rental period, after refueling (FULL TANK) at the garage on site, a Budget staff member told me all in order after seeing my fuel receipt, looking at the fuel gage & checked no damage to vehicle. A week later I was billed for nearly R500 for petrol (including R60 which they claim was the amount of fuel they had to put into a refueled tank BP attendant saying 'full full won't take any more mam') and to'ing & fro'ing by totally disinterested Budget staff, I now realize that this is one company who clearly are NOT HONEST and obviously DO NOT CARE that their VEHICLES ARE UNSAFE. Instead, they would rather try and dishonestly fleece a customer - probably thinking that living overseas gives them the right or perhaps that we are less likely to pay a visit to any Budget office in person to speak to someone who actually cares about honesty & the company reputation. Sadly AVIS who are a reputable company have associated themselves with Budget, but hopefully they can disassociate themselves soon, as Avis will no doubt be severely *****ed by this ill reputed company Budget Rent a Car, which the good name of Avis appears to be carrying. I will head to HERTZ or one of the other car rental companies before returning to BUDGET and recommend anyone considering a Budget Rent a Car rental to do the same. AVOID Budget Rent a Car if you want an honest company & safe rental vehicle.